Meet our 2024 Children's Miracle Network Champion Child

Beckett

Burn victim

All boy! Active. Funny. Smart. Storyteller. That’s how Beckett’s mom Sarah describes her attention-seeking 6-year-old who rides a dirt bike, plays flag football and loves romping with the goats on their Bristol, Virginia, farm.

But his active life changed one night on a family camping trip when the unthinkable happened. As Beckett leaned toward the campfire to roast a marshmallow, his chair tipped, propelling his body into the blazing firepit where he landed on his knees.

Beckett ended up at Niswonger Children’s Hospital with third degree burns on his knees and palm. Fortunately, his face was spared.

“The staff knew just what to do then and every time he went to the hospital for a debridement and cleaning to keep him calm and out of pain. They were angels,” says Sarah. “Even now, I’m in contact with the nurse when I have concerns.”

As for Beckett, his mom says he’s back to playing flag football (with wrapped knees) and going “one hundred percent wide-open!” 

Click here to read about all of our 2024 child ambassadors!

Why Should You Get Involved in Radiothon?

Patients, team members, and community partners and volunteers of the region’s only children’s hospital will kick off the 2024 Ballad Health Niswonger Children's Hospital Radiothon on February 29th and March 1st this year.

For a decade now, radiothon has brought the community together for a good cause through media outlets. Four of Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation’s radio stations (98.5 WTFM, 95.9 The Hog WRZK, Classic Hits 102.7 FM, and ESPN Tri-Cities) will broadcast stories featuring families treated at Niswonger Children’s Hospital, doctors, and other staff members who work in the hospital. This is a day of encouraging the community to give back to their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, as we rely on community supported funds to help us continue to provide excellent care to our patients and their families. The radiothon is the children’s hospital’s second largest annual fundraiser, and it has raised more than $3 million for babies, children, teenagers and their families in the Appalachian Highlands.

The 2024 Radiothon will support the newly announced expansion into Niswonger Children's Network. Through Ballad Health affiliate clinics and primary care offices, the expansion ensures that kids and families in every area of our region receive the same quality care they would as if they were treated at Niswonger Children's Hospital.

At Niswonger Children's Hospital we believe that seeing a kite fly from the ground and flutter in the breeze is a sign of hope and healing. By supporting Radiothon and raising funds and awareness for our hospital, you are helping us make kites fly, to help and heal the young people of this region - and, ultimately, to make hope rise.